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I came home from this year's DSC Convention with some new gear. Here are some of the exciting things I saw.

I saw some great gear at the convention

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This article was first published in my email newsletter in January of 2024. I've added it to my website, because I think the information has some long-term value. If you'd like to keep up with the latest hunting information, including my open dates and available hunts, you can subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of this page.


 

This is Hunting Convention Season. There are conventions happening everywhere right now, and I’ve just finished up attending and exhibiting at two of them: The Dallas Safari Club (DSC) Convention and the Houston Safari Club Convention (HSCC).

 

The DSC Convention is usually my favorite, but attendance suffered this year. That’s largely because convention center renovation in Dallas forced the event to move to Atlanta. On top of that, there was bad weather that caused cancellation of more than 1,000 flights into Atlanta.

 

Of course, I’m disappointed because I see the show from the perspective of an exhibitor. When I exhibit, I like having a crowd and talking to lots and lots of hunters.

 

On the other hand, for a hunter, it was a terrific opportunity. Usually the DSC event is so crowded that it’s hard to get a chance to speak to an exhibitor. This year, you not only got a chance, but you could also spend some serious time with an exhibitor that interested you.

 

I took that opportunity myself, going briefly AWOL from my own booth to look closely at some new products at other booths.

 

I saw some great stuff. In fact, there are a few products that I’m buying and adding to my personal gear. Let me talk about those.


7MM 'BACKCOUNTRY' ROUND FROM FEDERAL

 

I hunt with a suppressor, which is typical of hunters here in Texas. I’m also spending my day getting in and out of trucks and hiking some rugged landscape. So I want two things in a rifle:

 

  1. A short barrel

  2. Light weight

 

Adding a suppressor to a rifle with a long barrel makes the whole thing unwieldy, clumsy, and heavy.

 

For years, I’ve been saying to manufacturers (and I’m not the only one): Get me something with a 20 inch barrel that can push a 170 or 180 grain round out the muzzle at 3,000 feet per second and not make me eat a ton of recoil.

 

I guess they’ve been listening.

 

The day before the DSC show, Federal officially announced their new 7mm ‘Backcountry’ round. It’s designed to do exactly what we’ve been asking for. I had heard about this round a while ago (in fact, I mentioned it in my last newsletter), but I hadn’t had the chance to see it up close and have a serious conversation about it with the Federal people. I took the time to do that at the show.

 

The key to this new round is in the case. It uses a new, proprietary, steel alloy that’s significantly stronger than a standard brass case (they call it ‘Peak Alloy’ case technology). That means Federal can increase chamber pressures far beyond what’s possible with brass-case technology.

 

You can read more about the round on the Federal website:

 

I consider this new round a game-changer, and I'm jumping in with both feet.


Check out this short video from Federal explaining the new round and what makes it different.




RIFLES FOR THE NEW ROUND

 

Of course, a new round means new rifles that are chambered for that round (and have the short barrels to take advantage of it). While working secretly to develop the Backcountry, Federal also worked behind the scenes with quite a few rifle manufacturers to make sure that there would be Backcountry-chambered rifles ready for market at the same time the round became available.

 

There were several of those rifles on exhibit in the Federal booth.

 

I currently use a rifle from Fierce Firearms (chambered for the 7mm PRC), and I’m going to stick with Fierce, getting one of their new Backcountry-chambered rifles.

 

Here are a couple Backcountry-chambered rifles that Fierce is offering:

 

 

Both the Backcountry rounds and the Backcountry-chambered rifles are available in gun stores now. I’m betting that demand is high. 


TRIPODS AND ATTACHMENTS FROM TRICER

 

I also spent some time at Tricer’s booth.

 

Tricer makes tripods and accessories. I’d seen their ads, but I’d never had hands-on time with any of their products. I wanted to see if their equipment felt as good in my hands as it looked in their marketing materials.

 

I came away convinced. In fact, I came away with some equipment.

 

I spent an hour at the Tricer booth, and I tried out everything. For me, the big selling point about Tricer equipment was the light weight. I spend a lot of time on foot during my hunts, and lightening my pack is pretty important. The gear I bought from Tricer was both well-made and lightweight.

 

Here’s information from the Tricer website on everything I bought:

 

 

And check out this video about the tripod I picked up:



SUMMING UP

 

I came away from the two conventions excited by what I saw, especially the new Backcountry technology. Backcountry-chambered rifles, along with my new Tricer gear, should make my pack a bit lighter this spring.

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